


Smooth Operator

by Brumeier



Series: Honky Tonk Blues [16]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music, Babysitting, Board Games, Community: comment_fic, Community: mcsheplets, Dancing, Established Relationship, Love Confessions, M/M, Prompt Fill, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 14:51:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12728712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: In which a day babysitting Madison leads to an unplanned confession.





	Smooth Operator

**Author's Note:**

> McSheplets Prompt #267: Operation 
> 
> LJ Comment Fic for Happy prompt: _any fandom, m &m, first dance _

Rodney’s focus was laser sharp, his hand on the surgical instrument rock steady. The patient’s stomach was open and the extraction, while an understandably delicate procedure, should’ve been pretty straight-forward. 

“’No need to ask, he’s a smooth operator,’” John sang. “’Smoooooth operator.’” 

Rodney sighed and the tweezers hit the exposed metal side of the stomach. _Bzzzt_! 

“Damn it, John! That’s sabotage and you know it!” 

“Don’t use bad words,” Madison chastised. She picked up one of her _Specialist_ cards and waved it around. “My turn for the Bread Basket!” 

Rodney handed her the tweezers and shot another glare at John, who looked entirely unrepentant. Rodney wouldn’t be surprised if John was throwing the game just to let Madison win which was patently unfair. 

“Uncle John, do you know more doctor songs?” Madison was approaching the Bread Basket as slow as a snail. Rodney admired her control. 

“Yeah, Uncle John,” Rodney parroted teasingly. “Entertain us with more doctor songs.” 

John pursed his lips and rubbed his chin. Rodney was more than familiar with that expression: it meant the challenge was about to be met. 

“’Like a surgeon, cutting for the very first time,’” John sang with a big grin. “’Like a surgeon, organ transplants are my line.’” 

Madison giggled, and deftly extracted the plastic slice of bread from the stomach. “Double money!” 

“Good job, kiddo!” 

Madison and John high-fived each other while Rodney looked despondently at the tally sheet. The downside of his niece getting older was that she was getting much better at board games; it was getting harder for Rodney to beat the pants off her. 

"I think it's safe to say Madison won this round." 

"Can we play again?" 

"Lunch break," John said. "Why don't you help Uncle Mer clean up while I make some sandwiches?" 

It was incredibly domestic, John in the kitchen while Rodney helped Madison tidy up. It never failed to surprise him how easy things were with John. He'd taken all the McKay family drama in stride, and always seemed eager to help Rodney out when he was babysitting. 

Rodney kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

They ate lunch together – John always made turkey sandwiches – while Madison regaled them with stories about her school and her friends and her favorite toys. Rodney kept waiting for her to ask about her grandmother, and why she wasn't doing her kamikaze visits anymore, but she didn't. Jeannie said Madison never brought up her grandmother at all, not since the hearing. 

"Can we have a dance party?" Madison asked once they'd finished eating. 

"A what?" 

"A dance party! It’s fun, Uncle Mer." 

Rodney shook his head. "I don't think so." 

"What's the matter, Rodney?" John asked with a smirk. "You don't dance?" 

"No." 

Madison was getting a pouty look on her face, and Rodney frantically cast around for something else to distract her with, but John stepped in before he could. 

"I'll dance with you, Maddie." 

There was a lot of high-pitched squealing that had Rodney wincing, and his niece ran off to get her iPod. 

"You don't have to do that." But Rodney pulled John in for a quick kiss anyway. "The kid doesn't have to get her way every single time, you know." 

"Maybe I just feel like getting my groove on." 

Rodney rolled his eyes, and made himself comfortable on the couch so he could watch the so-called dance party. 

Madison had eclectic musical tastes for a kid her age. The first song she pulled up was _Rock Around the Clock_ , and she did a pretty mean jitterbug. Then again, John wasn't too bad either. 

"How do you know how to do that?" 

"My grandmother. She used to compete in dance contests." 

Rodney assumed it was his maternal grandmother. He'd met Sheppard Senior and he seemed like the kind of guy who came from a family of humorless accountants. 

John swung Madison around, and Rodney couldn’t help smiling in response to the big grin on her face. Not for the first time he thought it was a shame John didn't have any kids of his own. He'd make a great father. 

Madison and John danced the next two songs, and then something slow came on that sounded suspiciously like vintage Bing Crosby. What the hell was Madison doing with Bing Crosby on her iPod? He swore she had the soul of an eighty-year-old sometimes. 

"Dance with Uncle John," Madison said. She tugged at Rodney. "This is a romantic dancing song." 

_Let me call you sweetheart_  
_I'm in love with you_  
_Let me hear you whisper_  
_That you love me too_

Rodney let John pull him in close and move them in slow circles around the living room. They'd done a lot together, both clothed and unclothed, but they'd never danced. It felt unexpectedly intimate to have John's hand resting at the small of his back, his other hand wrapped around Rodney's. 

_Keep the love light glowing_  
_In your eyes so blue_  
_Let me call you sweetheart_  
_I'm in love with you_

John sang along softly with the lyrics, his expression the one Rodney usually saw post-orgasm. It wasn't the first time John had favored Rodney with a love song, but it was the first time Rodney felt secure enough to respond with the actual words. 

"I love you too," he whispered. His heart was pounding in his ears. 

John abruptly stopped moving, and there was so much emotion shining out of his eyes that Rodney's breath caught in his throat. In the next second they were kissing, pressed so closely together a piece of paper wouldn't have fit between them. 

"Me too! Me too!" 

Madison tugged at Rodney's arm and he reluctantly pulled back. He picked her up and John wrapped his arms around both of them. The song changed to something more modern but still a ballad, and the three of them swayed along together, Madison with an arm slung around each of their necks. 

Rodney thought that maybe he wouldn't mind having kids someday himself, as long as he had John by his side to raise them with.

**Author's Note:**

> **Song List**
> 
>  
> 
> [Smooth Operator](https://youtu.be/4TYv2PhG89A) by Sade 
> 
> [Like A Surgeon](https://youtu.be/notKtAgfwDA) by Weird Al Yankovic 
> 
> [Rock Around the Clock](https://youtu.be/ZgdufzXvjqw) by Bill Hayley and the Comets 
> 
> [Let Me Call You Sweetheart](https://youtu.be/GgvDariuAN0) by Bing Crosby


End file.
